Very Ugly War Stories. But Are They True?

Joshua Key is said to be a US Army deserter who fled to Canada (which, incidentally, has an extradition treaty with the US for deserters and draft dodgers now). He's published a book, The Deserter's Tale, which purports to be an account of atrocities he witnessed while serving in Iraq. An excerpt — very ugly if true — is online at Why I fled George Bush's war.

As a deserter, Key has an obvious interest in justifying himself. So I think these very serious allegations require corroboration before we can safely rely on them. But serious charges of random violence and apparent gang rape demand at least some investigation. Especially as the book is going to have Canadian, Australian, French, German, Dutch, Indian, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish and Japanese editions.

Unfortunately, that sort of investigation is not at all easy. And the US Army presumably has no great interest in risking corroboration. I fear we may never know for sure.

2 Responses to Very Ugly War Stories. But Are They True?

I have no special knowledge as to whether these claims are true or not. But has there _ever_ been an extended fight (perhaps especially against an insurgency but not just there) where there were not serious and significant attrocities committed? Would anyone who has looked very closely at _any_ war doubt that they are going to be part of war? This doesn’t justify them _at all_. But, given that they are a perfectly predictable part of any war they are one more, and to my mind a very serious, reason to not go to war unless it’s absolutely necessary, something that obviously wasn’t the case in Iraq.